If our inner focus needs constantly to be re-sought, we need to develop a rule of life that will support this.  I will consider that tomorrow.  It also helps if we have (or develop) a sense of what God is asking to bring about in and through us, through our way of living.  This is how we imitate Mary’s fiat, saying: “Let what you have said be done through me”.

My mission statement as a married priest and a secular Franciscan takes account of my commitments in life, into which I believe I have been led by God.  It goes along the lines of: “My mission in life is so to live that the indwelling Christ may be expressed in my life to the glory of God the Father through fidelity to my vocation as a married priest and by walking in the way of St Francis.”

It’s taken some discernment of course to cotton on at every stage in my life to what God has asked me to undertake and how best to express it.  But the statement above has endured with very little change (just a little tweaking in the wording here and there) for the best part of twenty years now.  I don’t claim to have perfectly achieved this by a long chalk, but it expresses my life’s goal.

I am also abundantly aware that this is the work of God’s grace in me.  The most I can do is aspire to lend myself heart and soul to what he is seeking to bring about through my life – and pick myself up and say sorry whenever I realise I am falling short.

God has a plan for you and your life too – in the circumstances of your relating, your work, your witness, he is wanting to express himself.  He is our light within.  This is what Jesus means when he said, “Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5.16).

How would you express what you are here to do?

MICHAEL KIRKHAM